Where does “boastful” come from?
Boastful comes from Middle English bostful, meaning to speak with excessive pride or arrogance.
boastful (English): Tending to boast or brag
Definitions
- Tending to boast or brag
Ancestry of “boastful”, step by step
boastful traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English boast
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | boast | A brag; ostentatious positive appraisal of... |
| 2 | Middle English | bosten | to threaten |
| 3 | Middle English | bost | boast, glory, noise, arrogance, presumption,... |
| 4 | Anglo-Norman | bost | — |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | bausuz | inflated; swollen; puffed up; proud; arrogant;... |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰew- | to grow, swell; to swell, wax, grow; to blow; to... |
via Middle English bostful
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | bostful | — |